PS4 dev complains about Gamestop and used game sales

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vcfan 2,337

On the heels of the game?s announcement at E3, Ru Weerasuriya, founder of Ready at Dawn, gave a fascinating interview to Games Industry International, in which he lambasted GameStop?s business model, in particular pertaining to sales of used games.

?I think the problem is right now there are retail outlets that are really taking everybody for a ride,? he said. ?You can?t make a living at the expense of everybody else.?

?I walked into a GameStop, asked for a new copy of a game and without telling me [the store clerk] tried to slip me a used copy and wanted to sell it to me for $5 less,? he later explained. ?I flipped out in front of the guy. I was like, ?Dude, wrong guy... You?re doing this to the wrong guy?... There are developers out there who are making games for [years] and some of them will go down purely because the revenue stream is basically flawed and creating this place where developers don?t see even a little part of it.?

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Shadrack 601

Last time I purchased anything at GameStop they tried to sell me a game that was unwrapped out-of-the-cellophane and previously opened and pass it off as a new disc. They had a ton of discs that were properly wrapped in the case behind them and when I kindly asked for one of those unopened copies the clerk began to argue with me that it was exactly the same. I refused to buy that disc because, as I told the clerk, I did not know its history. It totally looked like he was trying to pass off a used/returned disc as new to me. So this story really doesn't surprise me at all.

Yesterday I was at gamestop looking for a used copy of Mortal Kombat Komplete and was surprised at how high all their used game prices were. Mortal Kombat Komplete used for X360 was $19 while it was available for new on Amazon for $17! I looked up other games, and overall my impression was that the whole store was a big rip off. They don't give proper dollar for people selling back their games, and try and pressure for in-store credit and then they mark things up all to hell. They basically pray on the ignorant consumer who doesn't know what game prices are or are not willing to go through the little bit of extra effort to sell their games online (either through craig's list, Amazon, or eBay) and make proper coin for their game.

On my way out one of the clerks was trying to force me to take a flyer about some used game offer for extra in-store credit.

Blah. I hate Gamestop. Don't know why I go there...its usually just because the family is at the mall and where else am I going to go? lol.. /rant.

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astropheed 1,752

They basically pray on the ignorant consumer who doesn't know what game prices are or are not willing to go through the little bit of extra effort to sell their games online (either through craig's list, Amazon, or eBay) and make proper coin for their game.

The lazy, weak and uninformed consumer deserves to have their money taken from them. This is a powerful driver in the economy. it's fairly well planted in the bases that people will buy things that they don't really need, and the more incapable they are to decide what is necessary the better off the rest of us will do. The same can be said for selling items you own to these businesses.

Having said that though, I do regard it as gutless tactic which makes me feel neutral to their whole existing as a Company. I will buy cheap games from there as I wander in and out waiting for my Wife to buy her shoes or books. The longer she takes the more games I seem to have. I will not sell them anything though, as I'm fully aware that's idiotic in most circumstances.

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McKay 3,695

Game over here are exactly the same. The prices in there are ridiculous - and they wonder why they nearly went under last year!

I find it odd, Game and Gamestation are owned by the same company, Game was going under, Gamestation was apparently still profitable. (They definately offered more money for trade-ins thus many people turned to them with their 2nd hand games).

So when Game nearly goes bankrupt, they close down Gamestation, and turn them into Game Stores. :/

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Andrew 2,666

I find it odd, Game and Gamestation are owned by the same company, Game was going under, Gamestation was apparently still profitable. (They definately offered more money for trade-ins thus many people turned to them with their 2nd hand games).

So when Game nearly goes bankrupt, they close down Gamestation, and turn them into Game Stores. :/

There's more to it than that. They chose the best locations to keep stores open & merge the businesses. That meant reducing the ridiculous strategy they had of Game & Gamestation stores sometimes being within 2 minute walks of each other to reduce their costs. If that particular Gamestation performed better/had higher foot fall then it was kept over the Game shop. Unbelievably though, they already want to / are expanding again and opening new stores & yet nothing has changed in store :blink:

As for the topic title, why is this news? It doesn't matter what platform we talk about, publishers and developers hate brick and mortar stores. It doesn't matter what sign is above the store, they all make the bulk of their profits from 2nd hand sales. Like it or not they are here to stay though, because as long as you need to sell a console to customers then you need them.

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123456789A 4,708

Last time I purchased anything at GameStop they tried to sell me a game that was unwrapped out-of-the-cellophane and previously opened and pass it off as a new disc. They had a ton of discs that were properly wrapped in the case behind them and when I kindly asked for one of those unopened copies the clerk began to argue with me that it was exactly the same. I refused to buy that disc because, as I told the clerk, I did not know its history. It totally looked like he was trying to pass off a used/returned disc as new to me. So this story really doesn't surprise me at all.

Yesterday I was at gamestop looking for a used copy of Mortal Kombat Komplete and was surprised at how high all their used game prices were. Mortal Kombat Komplete used for X360 was $19 while it was available for new on Amazon for $17! I looked up other games, and overall my impression was that the whole store was a big rip off. They don't give proper dollar for people selling back their games, and try and pressure for in-store credit and then they mark things up all to hell. They basically pray on the ignorant consumer who doesn't know what game prices are or are not willing to go through the little bit of extra effort to sell their games online (either through craig's list, Amazon, or eBay) and make proper coin for their game.

On my way out one of the clerks was trying to force me to take a flyer about some used game offer for extra in-store credit.

Blah. I hate Gamestop. Don't know why I go there...its usually just because the family is at the mall and where else am I going to go? lol.. /rant.

When I first bought an Xbox 360 in 2011, I bought it at Gamestop and wanted a copy of Mass Effect 2. They asked me if I wanted new or used, and at the time I didn't really care and said I'd check out a used copy as long as it didn't have any scratches. So, they handed me a used Mass Effect 2 and when I opened the case, I guess the person who sold this "game" back to Gamestop decided to put in some obese porn DVD instead. I told the Gamestop employee I wanted Mass Effect, not Ass Effect, so I got a new copy instead.

So my lesson is that if I'm buying anything at Gamestop, it has to be new, but I get most of my games from Amazon or Microsoft Store now.

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compl3x 6,252

The problem here is shady GameStop/EB practices. It doesn't necessarily make the atrocious policies MS had any more consumer friendly. Nice try though.

The hate relationship publishers have with GameStop are ###### anyway. If they are so unhappy with GameStop why do they do exclusive deals with them all the time? Exclusive DLC/collector's editions etc. They could sell all of us DLC on the online stores and rob GameStop of any benefits or perks. Publishers could also negotiate with Sony and MS to make digital purchases cheaper than physical to encourage us to buy there and again rob GameStop of sales.

It's also telling that the OP didn't bother to post this part:

Weerasuriya?s solution is simple: ?I don?t think we should stop used games, but we should do something about getting part of the revenue back from GameStop and places like that. That?s not penalizing consumers; they?ll still get what they want.?

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Geoffrey B. 1,414

I have to admit that every single time i have tried to buy a game at gamestop that the game had been out for a while and i wanted a new copy it has always been an opened box, and i have tried to confront them several times on it and they always tell me that they do it for security to not keep disks in the cases, but when i get a game that is brand new its always a sealed package no problem. I think they just have a lot of crap they are trying to pull on the customer and its really annoying. its this reason that 90% of the games i buy are digital downloads.

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BajiRav 2,119

Why do people still go to Gamestop though? I can't remember the last time I bought at retail (2007?)..I always buy from Amazon/Newegg these days. Failing those Target is my preferred local retailer (but hasn't bought a game from them for a long time).

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ILikeTobacco 839

ILikeTobacco 839

One of the reasons I refuse to buy games in anything but new condition. I would rather pay $50 for a new game and know the develop got its cut than pay $30 for it used. I can understand why some people don't have that option but Gamestop needs to stop ramming used games down peoples throats. I have had the exact same experience as the article talks about and its not right.

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spenser.d 1,100

Cars are a physical product that depreciates in value as time goes on. They literally aren't worth as much after you drive one off the lot. They are used in the sense that product quality deteriorates.

A videogame (and any software) is a bunch of lines of code. They don't deteriorate, ever. A disc is certainly a physical medium to hold that data, but you're paying $60 for the data, not the disc. A new game and a used game are the same exact thing, except devs aren't getting paid.

Now if, perhaps, after one person used a game the next person magically couldn't play a level because it had been used, then you'd have an argument.

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The_Observer 293

The_Observer 293

Cars are a physical product that depreciates in value as time goes on. They literally aren't worth as much after you drive one off the lot. They are used in the sense that product quality deteriorates.

A videogame (and any software) is a bunch of lines of code. They don't deteriorate, ever. A disc is certainly a physical medium to hold that data, but you're paying $60 for the data, not the disc. A new game and a used game are the same exact thing, except devs aren't getting paid.

Now if, perhaps, after one person used a game the next person magically couldn't play a level because it had been used, then you'd have an argument.

My point is that once someone buys it, that's it, Dev shouldn't get anything more. Online games then yes, cause of the cost of servers, but a single player game then no! If dev wants to see more money then lower your price of games and watch more people buy them. People will shop around or wait till the price is lower. BTW how do dev feel about rental shops. MUST really hate them!

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BajiRav 2,119

BajiRav 2,119

My point is that once someone buys it, that's it, Dev shouldn't get anything more. Online games then yes, cause of the cost of servers, but a single player game then no! If dev wants to see more money then lower your price of games and watch more people buy them. People will shop around or wait till the price is lower. BTW how do dev feel about rental shops. MUST really hate them!